Uberti 1860 Henry advice...

[Wolfsburg]

I've been toying around with the idea of buying an Uberti 1860 brass framed Henry clone in .44-40 at some point (from Cimarron? Taylor's?) and was hoping to get some input from anyone here who have owned or had any experience with these pieces. Within the limitations of the design, are they well made and reasonably accurate and reliable? This would be just a plinker and I might occasionally carry it around the property (live on a farm with an ever present coyote population). I realize there are more practical, more modern lever guns to be had but I kind of thought this would be an unique and interesting firearm to enjoy.

What are your thoughts?

[Ysabel Kid]

I have one in .45 Colt, and it is a wonderful rifle. Well-made and just beautiful! It does give one an appreciation for what a leap forward the King's patent was though. For recreational use, you'll enjoy it!

[PaperPatch]

I have one with a 24 inch barrel chambered for 44-40, and load its cartridges with black powder. It is indeed a lot of fun to flip up the rear sight, and plink at 200 yards and beyond.

Recoil is mild, accuracy good...and the report upon firing is a distinctive boom. At the range, it always draws a crowd.

3f black, and 205 grain bullets lubed with SPG is what I use. The bullets in my rifle must be sized to .428.....430 will not feed.

With about a thousand rounds through it....no issues. I did have to drift the rear sight a bit, and file down the front sight a tad, in order to settle the point of aim/impact at 100 yards. With that done...flipping up the rear, puts it on at 200 yards.

Yes...fun to own and easy to shoot. Hope this helps.

[Pete44ru]

There was a thread here, over two years ago IIRC, that included a LOT of input from several forum members, a few of which were VERY experienced - about European-made .44-40 M1860's, and how the barrel specs for Euro models differed from those imported into the US, and the resultant accuracy/functioning issues.

I couldn't find the thread, but maybe Hobie (mods) could, and link it here for your reading pleasure.

.

[Grizzly Adams]

I have an 1860 Henry in 44-40. It is beautifully made, both in form and function. The Uberti 1860 is a classicl example of reverse engineering. It is a unique, and in some ways complex design, that requires a lot of precise machine work. The barrel and magazine tube are machined from a single piece of material. The magazine portion is then rolled on a mandrel - pretty much the way it was done originally. This is why the 1860 Henry is more expensive than the other Uberti lever guns.

The 1860 is easily the most accurate 44WCF I own. Shoots very welll indeed. You will be happy with an 1860.

[Hobie]

You want searches?

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... f=1&t=8904

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=14832

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=13353

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=12914

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=10189

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... f=1&t=9200

This is all I could find...

[Wolfsburg]

Wow, thanks! I had done a search but was not nearly so successful. I had wondered if gloves were needed to avoid burnt hands. I had not thought of the safety considerations of loading it so I'm glad I'm now more aware. To be clear, the brass receivers can handle smokeless ammunition correct?

Also, any vendor recommendations?

[Hobie]

They are good for SAAMI standard ammo. Vendors? Get a Uberti or Cimarron.

[Griff]

Since Uberti is the ONLY manufacturer of the 1860 Henry rifle, the importer (Cimarron, Taylor's or other) is really immaterial as far as anything but appearance is concerned. For the most part... Cimarron specifies some difference screw and metal finishes for some of their models...

I have a "Steel Framed" EMF 1860 in .45 Colt... love it.

[Wolfsburg]

Yes, by "vendor" I meant "importer". I didn't know if anyone had a preference.

[Hobie]

Cimarron may (or may not be) a Uberti with some value-added features. Griff is right, the actual importer isn't important except that their version (created for market differentiation) might have different features.

[Peter M. Eick]

Looking for one of these?




Mine is a Cimarron in 44/40 and the iron (steel) framed one. I love it and find it accurate, reliable and just plain a hoot to shoot. The gun is so heavy that lobbing 200 grn lead rounds down range at 1200 fps is like shooting 22 shorts. You can actually recover from the recoil and see the bullet traveling to the target at 100 yrds. You can see it about 25 yrds out and watch it travel into the target. At 200 yrds it is really easy to watch it head in. The fascinating thing about it is that while I know that it does not follow a parabola because of velocity lost here you can see it just sort of fall in. You can actually call the shot about 15 yrds out and tell where it will hit the group.

Every time I take mine to the range I get comments. I normally shoot it sitting or kneeling so I get more comments. I don't do prone with it that much because the butt drops so much that I am worried about scraping it on the concrete.

Buy it. The gun is smooth, well made, great finish and lots of fun. Just wait till you flip up the sight on the 200 yrd range the first time and start doing "artillery fire".

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I have a steel framed Henry that has been my Main Match rifle in Cowboy Action Shooting competition for the last few years. In fact I use a photo of it as my avatar. Here is another photo.



Mine is chambered for 44-40 and I have never put anything but Black Powder rounds through it. But all guns made in Italy are proofed in government run proof houses, so I'm sure it had some Smokelss proof loads run through it. Original Henrys were made with a bronze, not brass, alloy known as gunmetal used for the frames, but gunwriters have been calling them brass for so long that it is almost a moot point. Modern Uberti Henrys do indeed have a brass frame (copper and zinc vs copper and tin), and I even had the metal tested last year at a testing lab. Sorry, I don't have the results handy, but it was clearly a brass alloy of copper and zinc. There was no tin present. Yes, these guns are strong enough for Smokeless SAAMI spec loads, but nothing more powerful than that.

I wanted something different than a run of the mill brass Henry, and Dixie Gun Works was having a sale on the color case hardened 44-40 version so I went for it. Historically, the first few hundred, maybe 400 or so, Henry rifles made had iron frames, not bronze. There is even speculation that the frames may have been made by Colt, as the machinery was still being set up in the Henry plant. Actually, New Haven Repeating Arms company, with Oliver Winchester as the largest stockholder. The only examples I have ever seen of iron framed Henrys had blued frames, but my case hardened Henry is so pretty that I just live with it.

I have often felt that the fact that the barrel and magazine are made from one solid bar of steel is a contributor to their accuracy. The more massive cross section probably keeps barrel vibration to a minimum. But it also makes them really heavy. My Henry weighs a full pound more than my Uberti 1873. With a full charge of Black Powder and a 200 grain lead bullet, recoil is very mild because of the weight.

Black Powder burns much hotter than Smokeless, and yes, on a hot summer day I wear a glove on my left hand to protect me from the heat. I used to get a lot of Michael Jackson comments, but that has pretty much stopped. The gun doesn't get all that hot as I am firing it, but by the time I have blasted 10 rounds out of it and am carrying it to the unloading table the heat has soaked through the barrel and it is uncomfortable to hold. I doubt ten rounds of Smokeless would be as uncomfortable, it does not burn as hot. In fact, on a cold day, the barrel is something nice and warm to hang onto, it is not uncomfortable at all.

Yes, you must be very careful when loading one of these, there have been instances of a slipped magazine follower firing rounds in the magazine, and even dropping the rounds down vertically can be dangerous. I always load mine at a slight angle so the rounds can trickle down the tube, and I keep my hand wrapped around the magazine so that if the follower gets away it will slam into my hand and not the stack of cartridges. Yes, it hurts, I have tested it, but it is better than a blown magazine. I also use a spacer stick in the magazine that keeps the follower from travelling all the way to the hand holding the barrel, so I don't have to do the 'Henry Hop'. The spacer takes up the space of 3 rounds so I can load it with 10 rounds which is typical in CAS.

I replaced the factory rear sight on mine with a buckhorn sight from Track of the Wolf. It is much quicker to aquire targets with the buckhorn than the factory sight, at least I think so. I ain't much of a long range shot, I don't have the eyesight for it, so I don't miss the folding leaf factory sight.

[Timothy]

I have the 1866 in 44wcf and agree uberti makes very fine guns, you can buy with confidence. As a testament to their reliability I'll list my load which is all wrong demensionally yet reasonably accurate from a historic standpoint. I shoot a 208gr soft lead .427 bullet over a 1.6 cc dipper of black powder loaded to an oal of 1.46 inches. Thats way to short but it feeds just fine in my rifle. That load also killed a coyote at 30 yards and has no recoil. Good luck

[Arminius]

I have an iron framed Henry "One of one Thousand" in .44-40.

The action is smoooth!

But I wouldn´t carry it around the farm ( I have none ), because of it´s WEIGHT!!!

24" of octagon barrel and that massive system ...

But if it´s really dirty and down and close, NOTHING will survive blows with THAT hunk of steel ...



Hermann